Germaine Montero Movies

El Sur (The South) is the story of Estrella (Iciar Bollain), a little girl from Southern Spain who has been uprooted to the North. Estrella maintains a sentimentalized attachment to the region of her birth, an attachment manifested in her love for her father (Omero Antonutti). The girl's rose-colored memories are shattered when she learns that her beloved dad once carried on affair with a Southern woman-and that the flames of passion still smolder within him. This Spanish/Argentinian coproduction was filmed on location in Madrid, Navarre, Vittoria, and Zamora. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The members of a singles' dinner club meet once a week to talk about their difficulties and help one another out with their lives, with romance, and whatever seems appropriate. In this movie, their dinners are featured, and vignettes of the participants' lives put their encounters into a larger perspective. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The most outstanding feature of this mystery/drama is the attractive and remarkable voice of Ivan Rebroff, a bass whose performing range spans four octaves. Though many can produce squeaks, squeals and grunts spanning four octaves, untrained singers are lucky to be able to perform using two octaves, and though trained singers occasionally manage to perform using three, only very rarely are singers able to perform with four. Opera lovers will enjoy the singing in this film. Rebroff plays Samson-Sascha, a well-known opera artist, who is brutally beaten by gangsters and suffers from amnesia. Even without his memory, he regains prominence onstage. Eventually, as his memory returns, he is able to search out those responsible for his troubles. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Under the tutelage of one-time husband, director Roger Vadim, Jane Fonda plays the much-younger wife of stuffed-shirt millionaire Michel Piccoli. When Piccoli's handsome young stepson Peter McEnery comes to visit, Fonda is immediately smitten. When Piccoli forces McEnery into a marriage of convenience, she contemplates committing suicide over returning to her barren but lavish lifestyle. The Game is Over was inspired by the Emile Zola novel La Curee (the film's European title). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An aging musketeer is called out of retirement to help a king in this comic swashbuckler. The king's twin brother is freed after twenty years in an iron mask. He is to be used as a decoy for the monarch while the real king and his court roust some rebels to foil their insurgent uprising. D'Artagnan (Jean Marais) leads the way with his expert fencing to aid in the royal flush. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Famed French actor and singer Fernandel headlines this comedy centered on a case of mistaken identity involving a hapless vacuum salesman. Door-to-door vacuum salesman Casimir has a strange knack for getting himself into complicated situations. One day, after knocking on the door of local artist Paul-André, Casimir finds himself in his biggest jam to date. After exchanging a series of romantic letters with wealthy South American Angelita, Paul-André has agreed to tie the knot. But now that Angelita is actually coming to town, Paul-André has gotten a paralyzing case of cold feet. By the time Angelita arrives in town Paul-André is already long gone, leaving the love-struck hotel owner to surmise that Casimir is the man who won her heart through correspondence. At first Casamir isn't quite sure how to get out of the predicament, but upon discovering that Angelita owns 1000 hotel rooms he surmises that could mean she needs just as many vacuum cleaners, and continues the ruse in order to make the big sale. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide